Ssssssssup

How are you guys doin?

I've been out of commission for a short while and I'm not sure if I'm truly back to updating and writing stories. Your reviews on Redlights and some other of my older stories have been more than fantastic, and thank you all for your wonderful words and thoughts, but it's been a little difficult writing ff. Not cuz of how hot the world is now but personal commitments. I was hoping that this story would bring back ideas for Redlights and if not enough people like it then I'll just post another of my older, unpublished stories and see if they stick. I guess we'll have to see.

Now…

This is a few-chaptered story I'm thinking of taking up to regain my writer's mojo (cuz I haven't posted in a while). As usual with new stories, this one is highly dependent on how you all like it, so don't hold back, let me know what you think.

Expect some OC characters (not all, but a select few, like Naruto). This story has a smart, calculating Naruto, because that's the kind of 'Naruto' I like writing. Plus, me writing an Avengers crossover was bound to happen.

I don't want to spoil this story. I'll leave it for you guys to enjoy…

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

CHAPTER 1

"Naruto has a very…violent imagination, Lord Minato." Inoichi tentatively said, sparing a look at the blank faced blonde boy sitting beside the almost identical-though older version of the boy-man. Minato shot a look at his disinterested son, finding it somewhat hard to believe that the docile boy had any harsh thought in his head.

He frowned. "Are you sure?" he asked. Naruto was a quiet boy, never once did he step out of line or do what he wasn't told to do. That was before he discovered Naruto's drawings.

Art with scarily detailed demons rising from fissures in the ground, people being beaten and tortured, dark and depressing images of the grim reaper, death itself, passing over houses and over carelessly happy families.

Kushina already didn't want anything to do with their unresponsive child, focusing her attention on Naruto's immediate younger brother and sister, the former two years older than the latter. Their extended family were already spooked-borderline frightened-out by the ghostly silent blonde boy, keeping their distance and respecting Naruto's space, but now that the boys younger brother and sister discovered his artful depictions of chaos and destruction, they all saw the boy in a new light.

A darker light, as contradictive as it sounded.

Minato was the only one that looked out for his son, and deep down in the boys mind, behind his expressionless face and his calm demeanour, he truly appreciated his father for being there for him.

Inoichi nodded. "They are all…very impressively detailed." The doctor continued at the prompting of the Head of the Namikaze business empire, beginning to express his real opinion of the boys work and the child's smooth answers to his prying question. "But those are simply manifestations of his pent up…emotions. Suppressed ideas and dreams he wishes to one day achieve."

"I don't understand. What dreams does Naruto wish to achieve, Inoichi?"

"World domination, Lord Minato. He wants to take over the world and shape it however he wants, and, if I may be so forward-"

"Please, go on."

"It is the same mentality you had when you were younger but more…extreme. Darker." The blonde doctor sat forward on his chair and propped his elbows on the desk, lacing his fingers under his nose. "Thankfully, Naruto has expressed that that desire to conquer the world is because…" Naruto's head twitched and his eyes flicked to the good doctor. Inoichi smiled gently and stopped. Minato looked at his silent son curiously and the boy looked back at him, his eyes devoid of life and emotion.

A silent message passed between father and son and the blonde man smiled lightly at his son.

The corners of Naruto's lips twitched up-

Flash forward: Ten years later

Tonight was their debut.

It was the first time they were performing before a crowd of more than ten people.

A hundred people or so was a good official start for their two-man band, the blonde drummer thought as he looked over the crowd with a winning grin. Deep down, behind his mask of confidence and appreciation for the audience for coming, he was a blizzard of nerves and fear.

The blue eyed teen sat down behind his drums and raised his sticks above his head, crossing them.

Silence overcame the crowd as the noticed that he was the only one on the stage. The stage was bathed in darkness and spotlight shone down onto the lone band mate sitting behind his precious orange and black drums. Naruto looked down, his sticks still crossed over his head and his short, spikey blonde hair stiff from anticipation; anyone that knew him would also know that his hair mirrored his emotions. The boy was in a white vest and black pants that reached above his ankles with bright orange sneakers on his feet. Another spotlight flicked on, shining down on a standing microphone and no one behind it.

The blonde brought his sticks down onto his drums, starting off with a quick paced drumroll.

Then silence bathed the stage as all the lights blinked off.

Booomph!

The lights blazed back on, illuminating the whole room, and this time standing behind the microphone was a girl wearing an oversized black vest and a bright orange long sleeved shirt underneath with identical looking pants and sneakers to her bandmate. Her long brown hair was styled into two pony tails at the top of her head and her fingernails were painted with the bands orange and black soon-to-be patented identifying colours.

She wore a bright orange half face mask that hide the lower half of her face but her deep brown and red eyes shone as far as the back of the room, the elegant cut of her eyebrows were mostly distinctive to noble women but her pale white skin seemed to contrast that, making the crowd think that she had been trapped in a basement for the majority of her life. The ominous, almost ghostly tone of the music ebbed from the hidden speakers.

Then she started singing, lightly and almost hesitantly, and it was like a spell had been cast.

No one spoke.

No one moved.

No one dared breathe…

Until…

The drummer slammed his sticks on his drums and her voice became stronger with the rising beat from her partner, following in tune with the drummer as he rumbled and thundered madly on his drum set.

The crowd lost it.

The masked girls voice cut through the insanity of the crowd as the drums tempo went up even more, faster and faster, harder and harder, louder and louder. Her fingers wiggled, making smooth gestures as if she were playing on a piano and moving with the story she was telling, enthralling the audience beyond anything they had ever experienced. The bass echoed through the relatively small room and the girl trilled with such melody that most, if not all, of the listeners wouldn't be ashamed to admit that they cried.

The brown haired girl paused and pointed at her bandmate, and the blonde drummer pointed at her with the stick in his left hand as he slammed his right drumstick onto his drums, entering a fast paced rendition of the beginning part of the third song they wanted to perform. His hands blurred on his set and he smirked sharply at her, catching the shining glow in her red speckled brown eyes. He withdrew his hand and added it to his already playing left hand, but the girl still pointed at him, drawing the attention of the crowd onto the drummer.

They were in a frenzy as the blonde shattered the very air they breathed, cracking and thumping on his drum set with the fury of a rabid animal. The boys blue eyes narrowed in concentration and the girl dropped her pointing hand, nodding subtly to the insane beat her partner was creating, closing her eyes peacefully in spite of the rancour and pandemonium the crowd was making and which her friend was fuelling. They audience jumped and stomped, banging their head but the drummer was in his own world, vaguely aware of others around him.

His sticks crashed down on the cymbals and the girl started singing once again.

She was glad her bandmate had convinced her not to use her illusionary abilities to make the audience like their music.

Perspiration gathered on her forehead as she belted out the bands song.

Who knew they'd like it?

No illusions. No chakra. No coercion whatsoever.

This was all them and their first official concert was an unarguable success.

This time the drummer slowed till his beats sounded like low, slow tapping, and his bandmate shone with her solo. Her thin fingers moved rhythmically to keep track of her pace and her eyes were closed in effort to not forget her lyrics. The crowd calmed down slightly and swayed side to side, nodding with her words and their story.

Words could not even begin to describe the emotions the crowd was feeling. It was as if their souls were set on fire with the truth behind her lyrics but their bodies were dunked into the deepest, iciest depth of the ocean. Their hearts thumped and they bowed repeatedly as the brown haired girl sang, stomping their feet with the supporting taps from the drummer. The blonde drummer then fully reintroduced himself into the concert again at the start of their fourth and last song.

This time, the girl plucked the microphone off the stand and walked along the stage, hiding the fact that she was out of breath by bobbing her head up and down, the microphone to her lips and the words coming out as easily as she could make them. She stopped before her busy drummer and her oversized black vest rustled as everyone in the audience exhaled and inhaled in sync. She dropped onto one knee and perched her left hand on her hip, she tilted her head up and sang heartedly. The blonde watched the girl carefully, making extra sure that no fan would raid the stage while she was too preoccupied singing. Shockwaves washed over the audience as she hopped back onto her feet, seemingly rejuvenated and full of life but the more observant could see the heavy sweat pouring down the side of her face from her forehead. She skipped across the stage, passing the mic stand to the other side of the stage, bending down and singing to the crowd there, repeating their second song once more and those that had not been too consumed by the madness sang it back to her.

The blonde drummed grinned as the girl straightened up and skipped across the stage again, slightly banging her head with the pace her drummer was making. The crowd sang along with her as she stopped beside her bandmate, waving her right hand over head. The crowd waved back, completely hypnotized by this new band, and the girl. The mysterious tone from the speakers kept echoing and the drummer kept bashing his drum set as the girl enthusiastically waved, singing with all she was worth and then some. Those that could remember the lyrics sang with her and those that couldn't hummed, shaking the room to its core.

The girl placed her waving hand on her bandmate's shoulder as he brought his sticks down one final time, bathing the whole place, once again, into thick, palpable silence. Silence so stifling that it stuck in the throats of those in the audience.

The drummer raised his right hand, pointing the stick to the ceiling. Behind her mask, the girl grinned widely and screamed.

"We've been Cloud Nine. Thank you for coming!"

The blonde stood up and was ushered away from his drum set so that they stood only a few feet from the edge of the stage, not too far from the screaming, revelling crowd. The boy threw his hand over his friends shoulder and the girl reciprocated by tossing her right hand over the slightly taller teens shoulder.

They took a deep bow and quickly left the stage.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The brown hair girl whooped as they ducked backstage. She spun around, tearing off her half mask and opening her arms wide, laughing merrily as she swept herself into the blonde's arms. She hopped out from his arms and collapsed, relieved, into a beat up sofa, the only furniture in the crumbling room besides a termite eaten desk and one of their posters glued to the wall. They barely noticed as another band, this one a five-man band, trooped out to an already hyped up crowd.

"I knew calling in that favour with Peter was a good idea." Naruto said and fell into the sofa, next to his friend, and crossed his right leg over his left, twirling both of his drumsticks with the fingers of his right hand. The girl could never stop being impressed when he did that. The fifteen year old boy sat back and closed his eyes with a deep sigh.

Yakumo Kurama, heiress to the Kurama Art Empire, cocked an eyebrow up and leaned heavily on her right elbow, sitting to her best friend and beaming. "Your dad couldn't make it?"

The blonde scoffed. "I'd be surprised if he did come, but," he handed her his phone and showed her the message he received an hour before their concert from his multi-billionaire father. "He sent me this."

The message bubble was two large thumbs up facing inwards to a wide grinning emoji and fireworks exploding over the yellow things head, reading: Good luck with your concert, son!

Yakumo whistled.

"It's the thought that counts, I guess."

"Yup." He stood up. The band playing had assured him that his drums would be packed and waiting for him even if he wasn't there, at the threat of their own lives, of course. The girl leaped off the couch and landed on her feet softly, testament to the few years of her training, and plodded after him as he walked to the door. She graciously walked passed him as he opened the door for him. "Your parents must've found out your missing by now."

The girl faltered, clenching her eyes and her hands tightly and cursing foully. "Shit."

The drummer hummed, his formerly dead blue eyes sparkling with amusement. "You'll be fine. I can talk to your parents if you want, take most of the heat off you."

The shorter teen moved beside her long-time friend and fixed her mask, before anyone she knew recognized her. The walked out into the busy street of New York City and the illusionist worriedly looked at her friend, noticing that he wasn't wearing anything over his sleeveless vest to ward off the cold night's wind. He looked at her with a smirk and ruffled her messy, twin ponytailed hair, pushing her away playfully. She laughed with a larger than life smile and rushed up to him, shoving him back with both of her hands planted into his side. Those that passed them, suspecting that they were too young to be out on their own, couldn't help but admit how close they were acting, not knowing that that was how they behaved with each other since they met. He grabbed the girl into a relaxed headlock and she wrapped her hands around his torso, tightening her grip as she locked her hands on his other side.

Their impromptu grappling match ended when she frantically tapped the arm holding her neck, submitting. She exhaled and finally answered his proposal. "It's going to be worse if they find out I was with you all day." His arm stayed around her shoulder as she withdrew her phone from her pants pocket. "I'm telling them I'm staying at your place for a few days. They're gonna kill me when I get back home; might as well make it worth it."

The Kurama family hated the Namikaze family.

It was a scorching, smouldering hate that had started when the patriarchs of each respective family were still children. Minato couldn't say that he reciprocated the feud with as much resolution as his former classmate but he didn't appreciate how Yakumo's father actively went out of his way to keep his son and his son's friend apart. There was also how Kurama Art was also one of the world's leading, most expensive empires, competing with global juggernauts like Stark Enterprises and The Namikaze Empire.

Naruto and Yakumo used to share the same therapist once upon a time. Inoichi thought it would be a good idea to let the two children meet; one who drew depiction of hell and one that sand about people dying slow and painful deaths.

The result wasn't explosive, not at first.

Mentioning the Namikaze name alone was enough to turn heads and Naruto closely resembling his father didn't help the matter much, but the boy masterfully ignored the little attention he was getting and proceeded to his apartment with Yakumo. He was glad he was able to talk his father out of giving him a Hyuuga security detail and also for not making him to live in a not-so-discreet mansion. The boy conceded on his father sending him a monthly allowance, with a few smaller surprise transfers into his account every week, which Naruto didn't support it but was not unappreciative of it. The man made it a point to video call his son at every chance he could get and Minato was fully content that Naruto was not confining his imagination to mayhem and death but rather expanding it into questionably wholesome music. It was more than his mother ever did for him.

They rounded into an alley with a door at the far end that led up into the apartment building Naruto stayed in while he was in New York and ground to a halt.

Nick Fury crossed his arms and leaned back on his chair, sitting in the middle of the alley towards his apartment building, and narrowed his one good eye at the singer and drummer duo. A red haired woman in a tight bodysuit and holding two handguns in both hands seemingly melded out from the shadow of the alley entrance behind them and the boys eyes caught a purposeful twinkle on the roof. Clint Barton, also known as Hawk Eye, smirked sharply when the boy saw him and nodded his head once, acknowledging he had been seen. Naruto ensured his eyes never left the Head of SHIELD but Yakumo turned around, her back to Naruto, and faced Black Widow. The woman fingered the trigger of her guns, smart enough not to underestimate the sickly fourteen year old girl and her fifteen year old best friend.

Not anymore.

Her ribs and her ego were still bruised from her last encounter with the girl. Barton too sniffed in displeasure as he focused all his senses on the blonde drummer. He had been concussed and that was a feat on its own.

Nick couldn't hold in his anger anymore. He had been looking for these delinquents for the better part of five months, saving up all his pent up fury, waiting to unleash it on them, Namikaze and Kurama be damned. He got up from his chair and stomped to the blonde, who didn't seem intimidated but rather a smile gradually grew on his face as the man approached. He stopped a foot from Naruto, towering over the teen and looking down at him with his eye burning red with rage.

He growled, low and deep. "Where…the hell…are my fighter jets?"

The two thieves winced at the same time, casting short looks over their shoulders at each other. Naruto brought up his empty hands and shrugged with a sly lopsided smile across his face. "Well…you see…"

Nick Fury didn't seem to like the answer he got.

Authors note

If you know what real life band Cloud Nine is based on, well done…now hush… ;D

Any who…they stole fighter jets…from SHIELD…it's gonna be fun to write.

Let me know if you want more chapters!

Let me know your thoughts and opinions on this story, would you so kindly. Stay safe, wherever you are in the world, and I will see you when I see you.

Foy.